When Tom Keller completed 500 miles in a swimming pool in October 2011, he said he would swim as long as God would let him.

At the end of March, he completed another 500 miles — an accomplishment the 66-year-old Lafayette resident dedicates to his brother, Richard Keller, who is in a long-term care facility in Lincoln, Neb., after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.

A thousand miles, by a retired letter carrier who has had six knee operations, including two knee replacements. Keller said he started keeping track in August 2006

Monday through Friday, Keller can be found in the far lane at Club NewTone in Lafayette, swimming one mile – 70.4 laps.

On behalf of his brother, Richard, Tom Keller has dedicated miles of swimming.
(Photo:
Photo Provided by Keller Family
)

"I'm here every weekday unless my wife has a honey-do list," he said. "Or if there's lightning — she's a stickler" about that.

Keller times himself. His wife, Victoria, said he's around the 46-minute mark.

He said 70.4 laps "sounds like a lot, but if you start slow, anyone could do the same."

Keller's knee problems began in 1974. Since 2010, Keller has biked more than 1,000 miles, dedicating them to two of his sisters, Katie Dowdy and Gerri Cox.

His physician, James Watson, and his surgeon, Daniel Daluga, have helped keep him on the bike and in the pool, he said.

With goggles on, Keller starts every mile with a backstroke; the stroke changes every 14 laps – but never the butterfly. Stroke after stroke, with a leg kick here and there, he traverses the 25-yard pool.

But he won't kick off the wall at each end.

"That's cheating," he said. "I'm kind of a purist when it comes to my swimming."